The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

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Monday, September 16, 2013

Vatican
City, 16 September 2013 (VIS) – This morning, following the usual
morning Mass at Santa Marta, the Holy Father proceeded to the
Basilica of St. John Lateran to meet with the Clergy of Rome.

In
preparation for the meeting and to meet the Pope's request, Cardinal
Vicar Agostino Vallini circulated among the priests of the diocese of
Rome a reflection on priestly identity in the light of the Aparecida
Document presented by the then Cardinal Bergoglio during the Fifth
Conference of Latin American Bishops.

In
the paper, the then archbishop of Buenos Aires discussed how in
Aparecida one became aware of changing times, “not in the many
partial ways that anyone might find in the daily actions one
performs, but rather in the meaning that gives unity to all that
exists”.

“The
defining aspect of this change of epoch is that things are no longer
in their place. Our previous ways of explaining the world and
relationships, good and bad, no longer appears to work. The way in
which we locate ourselves in history has changed. Things we thought
would never happen, or that we never thought we would see, we are
experiencing now, and we dare not even imagine the future. That which
appeared normal to us – family, the Church, society and the world –
will probably no longer seem that way. We cannot simply wait for what
we are experiencing to pass, under the illusion that things will
return to being how they were before”.

In
the document, Bergoglio presents the mission as a proposal and
challenge in the face of these changes, and encourages the pastor to
be “an ardent missionary who lives the constant desire to seek out
the remote, not content with simple administration”, and reiterates
that “a transformation in pastoral action and a consequent
transforming pastoral action can only occur when mediated by the
interior transformation of the agents of pastoral care and the
members of the community they form. … To become once again a Church
driven by evangelical momentum and audacity, we must again become
faithful and evangelised disciples”.

Vatican
City, 15 September 2013 (VIS) – At midday today Pope Francis
appeared at the window of his study to pray the Angelus with the
faithful gathered in a St. Peter's Square full of umbrellas owing to
the heavy rainfall in the capital this morning. The Pope commented on
today's Gospel reading which contained the three parables of mercy:
the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the story of the prodigal son.

“All
these three parables”, he said, “speak of the joy of God. God is
joyful! The joy of God is the joy of forgiveness. … It is the joy
of the shepherd who finds his lost sheep; the joy of the woman who
finds her lost coin; the joy of the father who welcomes home his lost
son. ... This is all the Gospel, here; this is Christianity! But this
is not sentimentalism or bland 'do-goodism'; … on the contrary,
mercy is the true force that can save man and the world from the
'cancer' of sin, from moral and spiritual malaise. Only love can fill
the gaps, the negative abysses that evil opens up in our hearts and
in history. Only love can do this, and this is the joy of God. …
Each one of us is that lost sheep, that lost coin; each one of us is
the lost son who has squandered his freedom following false idols,
mirages of happiness, and has lost everything”.

“But
God does not forget us, our Father never abandons us. He is a patient
father, he always awaits us! He respects our freedom, but always
remains faithful. And when we return to Him, He welcomes us as His
children, in His house, because He never ceases to wait for us, not
even for a moment, with love. And His heart rejoices for every son
who returns. It is a celebration, as it is joy. God is joyful when
each sinner returns to Him and asks his forgiveness”.

“The
danger is that we presume we are right, and so judge others”,
continued the Pope. “We also judge God, as we think He should
punish sinners and condemn them to death, instead of forgiving them.
This way we risk remaining outside our Father's house, like the elder
brother in the parable, who instead of rejoicing in his brother's
return, is angry with his father for welcoming him and celebrating.
If there is no mercy in our hearts, if we do not experience the joy
of forgiveness, we are not in communion with God, even if we observe
all the commandments, because it is love that saves, not the simple
observance of rules. It is in love for God and for our neighbour that
the commandments are fulfilled”.

“If
we live according to the law of 'an eye for an eye, a tooth for a
tooth', we will never escape from the spiral of evil. The devil is
cunning; he deludes us that with our human justice we can save
ourselves and the world. In reality, only God's justice can save us!
It is God's justice that is revealed to us on the Cross: the Cross is
God's judgement on us and on the world. But how does God judge us? By
giving His life for us! Here is the supreme act of justice that
defeats the Prince of this world once and for all; and this supreme
act of justice is precisely also the supreme act of mercy. Jesus
calls all of us to follow this path: 'Be merciful, just as your
Father is merciful'”.

Francis
concluded by asking all those present to think of “a person we
aren't happy with, someone we are angry with, someone we don't like.
Let us think about that person and, in silence, for a moment, let us
pray for that person and become merciful towards them”.

Vatican
City, 15 September 2013 (VIS) – After today's Angelus the Pope
spoke about the beatification in Argentina yesterday of “the gaucho
priest” Fr. Brochero, who, “driven by the love of Christ,
dedicated himself entirely to his flock, leading them all into God's
Kingdom, with immense mercy and zeal. … He stayed alongside the
people and encouraged many to perform the spiritual exercises. He
travelled kilometres and kilometres through the mountains on his
mule, named 'Uglyface' on account of her unfortunate appearance. He
even ventured out in the rain, and was courageous. At the end of his
life, Blessed Fr. Brochero was blind and a leper, but full of joy,
the joy of the Good Shepherd, the joy of the merciful Shepherd”.

I
wish to share in the joy of the Church in Argentina for the
beatification of this exemplary pastor who, atop his mule,
indefatigably travelled the arid paths of his parish, going from door
to door seeking the parishioners entrusted to him to lead them to
God. We ask Christ, by the intercession of the new Blessed, that
there be a proliferation of priests who, like Fr. Brochero, dedicate
their lives to evangelisation, on both knees before the Cross, and
bearing witness everywhere to God's love and mercy.

Finally,
the Pope recalled that today sees the conclusion in Turin of the
Italian Catholics' Social Week, on the theme of “Family, hope and
future for Italian society” and greeted all the participants,
commending them for the commitment of the Church in Italy with and
for families, which constitutes “a powerful stimulus for the
institutions and for the country as a whole”.

Vatican
City, 14 September 2013 (VIS) – The Argentine priest Fr. Jose
Gabriel Brochero (1840-1914), “the gaucho priest”, and one of the
nation's most popular figures, was beatified today in Cordoba.
Brochero, who became known for the assistance he gave to the sick and
dying during the cholera epidemic that blighted Cordoba in 1867, was
appointed in 1869 as vicar of the department of San Alberto, now
Valle Traslasierra. There, travelling from village to village by
mule, he took care of the needs of its inhabitants, building
churches, chapels and schools, and with the aid of the peasants,
opened up paths and passages through the mountains. In his old age he
became deaf and blind as a result of the leprosy he contracted
through living in close contact with those who were afflicted with
the disease.

On
the occasion of his beatification, the Holy Father addressed a letter
to Archbishop Jose Maria Arancedo of Santa Fe, president of the
Argentine Episcopal Conference, ample extracts from which we publish
here below:

“That
Fr. Brochero finally joins the blesseds is a great joy and a blessing
for the Argentine people and for devotees of this shepherd who had
the smell of his sheep, who became poor among the poor, who always
fought to stay close to God and to the people, who did and continues
to do so much good, bringing God's loving caress to our suffering
people. I imagine the good priest Brochero on his mule … travelling
along the barren and desolate roads of the two hundred square
kilometres that made up his parish, searching for your
great-grandparents, your great-great-grandparents, to ask if they
needed anything and to invite them to do the spiritual exercises of
St. Ignatius of Loyola. He knew every corner of the parish. He did
not stay in the sacristy combing his sheep”.

“Fr.
Brochero brought Jesus to each family. He would visit them with an
image of the Virgin and a prayer book with the Word of God, the
things he needed to celebrate Mass each day. They would invite him
around to chat, and Brochero would talk to them in a way that
everyone understood, that came from his heart, his faith and the love
he had for Jesus”.

This
beatification is very important for today's pastoral care. Fr.
Brochero embodied the current relevance of the Gospel, he was a
pioneer who went out to the geographical and existential peripheries
to bring the love and mercy of God to all. He did not stay in the
parish office, but instead pressed on, ranging through the parish
atop his mule, becoming ill with leprosy, seeking his flock, bringing
faith to the street. This is what Jesus wants today: missionary
disciples who take faith out onto the streets! Brochero was a normal
man, fragile, like each of us, but he knew the love of Jesus … he
learned how to leave behind the petty selfishness we all have,
overcoming his own weakness, defeating with the help of God the inner
forces the devil uses to bind us to comfort. … Brochero listened to
the call of God and chose sacrifice for the good of His kingdom, for
the common good that the enormous dignity deserved by every person,
as a child of God, and was faithful to the very end, continuing to
pray and celebrate Mass, even as a blind leper”.

“Let
us allow Brochero to enter today, mule and all, into the homes of our
hearts, inviting us to prayer, to the encounter with Jesus; let him
deliver us from our bondage so that we too might go out to seek our
brother, to touch the flesh of Christ in those who suffer and who
need God's love”.

Vatican
City, 14 September 2013 (VIS) – Walk, build and confess. Pope
Francis indicated this itinerary – the same one he proposed at the
beginning of his ministry – to members of the Equestrian Order of
the Holy Sepulchre participating in a pilgrimage to Rome to mark the
Year of Faith, during his audience with them on Friday afternoon in
the Vatican's Paul VI Hall.

The
pilgrimage, he said, to explain the first term, is a symbol of human
and Christian life and “each one of us may be a 'vagrant' or a
'pilgrim'. In our time, we see many people who are 'vagrants', who
are deprived of an ideal in life and often incapable of finding
meaning in the events of the world. In pilgrimage you give the sign
that you do not wish to be vagrants. Your path is a part of history,
in a world where boundaries are ever-expanding, many barriers fall
and our paths are tied ever more closely to those of others. Be
witnesses to deeper meaning, to the light faith brings; know how to
preserve the great wealth of values, of past wisdom, while intensely
living in the present, committed to today's world and looking to the
future, opening horizons of hope through your work in order to give a
more human face to society”.

“The
Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem has a history
dating back almost a thousand years; yours is one of the most ancient
welfare and charitable Orders still active today. … Building with
charity, compassion and love”, continued Francis, emphasising that
the pilgrimage has a charitable aim, to benefit the inhabitants of
the Holy Land, especially those most in need and who “are living
through moments of suffering, tension and fear, and also our
Christian brothers who suffer greatly. I greet and embrace them with
great affection; to all, Christian and otherwise, I assure my daily
prayer”.

However,
their constructive path stems from “confessing the faith ever more
profoundly, and grows from the continual commitment to nurturing your
spiritual life, from permanent formation for an ever more genuine and
coherent Christian life. This is an important point for each one of
you and for the entire Order … the profession of faith and the
witness of charity are closely connected and are the strengths and
qualifying aspects of your action”.

“An
ancient bond links you to the Holy Sepulchre, the perennial memorial
of Christ crucified who was laid there, and of the Risen Christ who
vanquished death. May Jesus Christ, crucified and resurrected, be
truly at the centre of your existence and of every personal and
collaborative project. Believe in the redemptive power of the Cross
and of the Resurrection, to offer hope and peace. The Land of Jesus
is in particular need! Faith does not distance us from the
responsibilities we are called to assume, but on the contrary
triggers and drives us towards concrete effort to build a better
society”.

Vatican
City, 16 September 2013 (VIS) - Today, the Holy Father appointed
Msgr. Paul Pallath as relator to the Congregation for the Causes of
Saints. Msgr. Pallath was formerly head of the office dealing with
procedures for dispensation from unconsummated marriage and causes
for the nullity of priestly ordination, at the Tribunal of the Roman
Rota.

On
Saturday, 14 September the Holy Father:

-
accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the diocese
of Bafoussam, Cameroon, presented by Bishop Gabriel Simo, upon having
reached the age limit.

-
appointed Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza as bishop of San Carlos (area
3,041, population 979,000, Catholics 867,000, priests 70, religious
88), Philippines. Bishop Alminaza, previously auxiliary of Jaro, was
born in San Jose, Philippines in 1959, was ordained to the priesthood
in 1986, and received episcopal ordination in 2008.